REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 357 



^ And not only the mountain breeds, but lean cattle of all kinds, in a more or 

 ress advanced state of age and fatness, are in the course of being transferred; 

 and a great part of the profit of farmers depends upon the skill with which, oil 

 the one hand, they make their purchases, and, on the other, effect their sales of 

 stock. 



Calves, instead of being reared to maturity in the manner described, are fre- 

 quently disposed of in a fattened state when young. The calves, under this 

 system, may be transferred soon after their birth to the butcher, or they may 

 be fed for a longer period on milk. In the latter case, they are rarely good 

 veal in less than 5 or 6 weeks, and the most approved period for keeping them 

 is 10 weeks. They are fed liberally on milk; but linseed cake and other feed- 

 ing substances may be also employed. The cribs in which they are kept should 

 be perfectly dry, well littered, and ventilated. 



Weight of oxen. The parts of an ox to which the term offal is usually ap- 

 plied are ttie head and feet, the tallow, the hide and horns, and the entrails. 



The fat of an ox, it has been said, is that unctuous substance which is inter- 

 mingled with, and surrounds, the muscles and other parts. That which grows 

 internally is mostly termed tallow, from the uses to which it is applied. The 

 tallow is generally considered to be of the same value, weight for weight, as 

 the flesh of the fore-quarters; and so likewise is the hide. These and the other 

 parts, termed offal, are commonly regarded as forming about one-fifth of the 

 value of the animal. When beef is said to be sold at a certain price sinking 

 the offals, the meaning merely is, that the whole price of the animal is reckoned 

 upon the carcass alone; hence, when beef is sold at a certain price sinking the 

 offals, that price is more than if it were sold without including in it the price of 

 the offals. 



That portion of the ox which is used for food, exclusive of the offals, is 

 usually termed the quarters, because the animal, on being rut up, is divided 

 into four parts or quarters. The most esteemed parts for food are the hind- 

 quarters. These weigh somewhat less than the fore-quarters; though the more 

 perfect the form of the animal is, the more nearly do the fore and hind-quarters 

 approach in weight. 



Practice enables persons to judge of tho weight of animals by the eye alone; 

 but it is convenient to be able to ascertain the weight by measurement. This 

 may be done with considerable correctness in the following manner: When 

 the animal is standing in a natural position, measure his length in feet from 

 the foremost upper corner of the shoulder-blade in a straight line to the hind- 

 most point of the rump; then measure the girth or circumference immediately 

 behind the fore legs; multiply the square of the girth by the length, and this 

 product by .238, which will give the weight of the quarters in stones of 14 IDS. 

 each. This rule has been arrived at, by regarding the body of the animal as a 

 cylinder, and determining, by experiment, what proportion, on an average, tho 

 actual weight of the quarters of animals bears to the cylinder. 



Another method of ascertaining the weight of fat cattle, is, by weighing them 

 when alive, and multiplying the gross weight by .605.* This rule has been 

 arrived at, by determining, from an average of cases, what proportion the dead 

 weight of the four quarters is found to bear to the living weight of the animal. 



Diseases of oxen. The diseases of the larger ruminating animals are not of 

 very frequent occurrence, although they are often dangerous and fatal. 



A malignant distemper, termed murrain, has sometimes made dreadful 

 ravages among the cattle of many countries, returning for successive years to 

 the same country, and sweeping entire generations of cattle away. In the early 

 part of the 17th century, it long raged on the continent of Europe, and when it 

 visited this island, continued its ravages for many years. But happily, since 

 the period of its first introduction, its occurrence has only been partial and 

 local. 



Cattle are subject to inflammatory diseases, which receive various names, as 

 quarter-ill, black-quarter, showing-of-blood, &c. Bleeding at the commence- 



* Paper in Quarterly Journal of Agriculture by Mr. FERGUSSON of Wood- 

 hill. 



